I was elated to read a letter in Pretoria News recently about the stunning performance of one of our own, Moetapele Mr. Phillip Rambuda in Civic Affairs. The letter was submitted to the paper by a Durban family very impressed with the services rendered.

The family said:

“In this day and age where service delivery is in question, we would like to say a huge thank you to a Mr. Phillip Rambuda at the Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria.”

This Durban family had experienced a problem with their passport application which they say “was stuck in the system somewhere.” They were put in touch fortunately with Mr. Rambuda by another helpful Moetapele, Mrs Pillay, from one of our offices in KZN.

The family wrote for Pretoria News about Mr Rambuda:

“He sorted out our problem in no time, met my husband, who flew up to Pretoria to collect the passport, and then went the extra mile, even escorting my husband to where the passport needed collecting and seeing him back safely to the Gautrain station. He also phoned my husband a little later to ask if he was at the airport safely.”

Over and above the dedication we see here demonstrated by our colleague in keeping with the ethos of Batho Pele and the objectives of the Moetapele Initiative, please take note of how people go out of the way to get the documents that we are mandated to provide. If nothing else, this clearly highlights the fact that it is no slogan to say the enabling documents we provide our people cannot get elsewhere. People are prepared to go that extra mile in order to obtain these documents because they are that important to them.

This family forgot the inconvenience of having to incur the cost to fly from Durban to Johannesburg, and then take the Gautrain to Pretoria, go to our offices and then again, take a taxi to the Gautrain, take the Gautrain to the airport, and then fly again to Durban. They forgot all this inconvenience and cost they had to incur as a family and came all the way to seek these very important documents.

But, note this, they also forgot all this and remembered the excellent Moetapele service they received at the hands of one of the very finest and best amongst us, Mr. Rambuda. This is all that matters: our clients will forget the inconvenience of the long queues and cramped offices if only we can render them quality services. This is the spirit of Moetapele!

The damage on our reputation as a government department and a brand would have been unimaginable were the family to go through all these pains to come to Pretoria for the passport and still fail to get it, due to some faults, negligence or neglect on our part.

It is for these reasons I thought this is a good story to share with you just to show how every little decision we take and how every action we take matter, for the wellbeing of our people, our clients, our country and continent. I would therefore like personally to congratulate Mr. Rambuda for his passion and dedication to his work. ‘Well done!’ This is what Moetapele is about.

The parting words of the family, which I share strongly, are:

“Thank you so much Mr. Rambuda, you are an asset to your Department. Your service was top-notch and we are so grateful for all your help.”

We would like to see more of this! Long live the Spirit of Moetapele! Sincerely,